Europe's Job Seekers Flock to Germany

Big Jump Seen in Number of Migrants Coming From Recession-Plagued Southern Europe

The debt crisis in the southern euro-zone has driven immigration into Germany to a 17-year high. The influx of young professionals from Greece, Spain, Portugal and even Italy is seen as a benefit to the German economy. Photo: AP

By

James Angelos

May 7, 2013 4:55 p.m. ET

PFULLINGEN, Germany—Christos Karoustas and his wife, Varvara, never thought they would move away from their village in Northern Greece, much less leave the country.

But when he lost his job as an accountant amid Greece's economic meltdown and they could no longer support their three teenage children, the family decided to go where the jobs are: Germany.

"We came here to forge a new path all together," said Mr. Karoustas, 46 years old, sitting with his wife and youngest son, Nikos, in their modest new apartment in Pfullingen, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Stuttgart.

Despite the enmity often directed at Berlin for its insistence on painful austerity as the cure for Europe's sovereign-debt crisis, Germany has become a new land of opportunity for tens of thousands of people fleeing their recession-racked homelands.

Data released Tuesday by the German statistics agency showed immigration hit a 17-year high last year, with the increase from Europe's crisis-riddled nations "particularly evident."

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The Karoustas family celebrated Greek independence day in March near their new home in Pfullingen.
James Angelos/The Wall Street Journal

Unlike in the U.S., where people move easily from state to state in search of work, Europeans have traditionally preferred to stay close to home, held back in part by differences in language and culture. But the stark divergence in labor markets across the Continent is propelling a change.

While unemployment in the euro zone has climbed above 12%—and in the dire cases of Greece and Spain, to around 27%—in Germany the rate in March was 5.4%, according to European Union figures.

In 2011, Germany displaced the U.K. as the prime European destination for migrants from other EU countries. Last year, Germany took in a record 690,937, according to provisional German data. Just from Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland, the number was 134,151—more than twice the level before the euro crisis began.

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Overall, the total was 1.08 million, a 13% jump and the highest level since 1995. The U.S., Turkey, Serbia, China and Russia were the biggest non-EU source countries.

As in previous years, neighboring Poland provided the largest number—184,325—followed by Romania with 116,964 and Bulgaria with 58,862.

But the biggest percentage increases are now from Southern Europe. The number of Greeks in particular has risen sharply, to 35,811 last year—more than four times the number in 2007.

They are following in the footsteps of earlier generations who came in the 1960s, when so-called guest workers from the Mediterranean Basin were invited to spur West Germany's booming postwar economy.

Among them were Ms. Karoustas's parents. She was born and raised in Frankfurt, where her father worked as a roofer, among other jobs, and her mother as a cleaning lady. The family moved to Greece when Ms. Karoustas was 18 and her parents had reached retirement age.

Ms. Karoustas, now 43, said it had never crossed her mind that she would one day go back to Germany. But, she added, "I never expected things would become such a mess in Greece."

After her husband lost his job working for an importer of home appliances in late 2010, he tried desperately to find another in cities near his village. He handed out more than 100 resumes, he said, but landed only two interviews, neither of which was successful.

One potential employer offered him a €4 ($5) an hour job at a kiosk. When Mr. Karoustas refused the low wage, the interviewer told him: "You're not hungry enough yet."

As their savings dwindled, the couple relied in part on help from their elderly parents. After a year and a half of joblessness, the couple decided there was no longer any future for them in Greece.

"We never wanted a lot," Ms. Karoustas said. "We only want to live with dignity."

Once their thoughts turned to Germany, relatives eased the way. Mr. Karoustas's brother, Konstantinos, arrived in Germany two decades ago, and had most recently found a job at a fulfillment company warehouse in Pfullingen, a town in the prosperous region of Swabia.

When a position opened up there, Konstantinos recommended his brother, who got the job. He left first and the rest of the family followed a few months later, arriving this past September.

Another new employee, Maria Saoulidou, had worked in a supermarket near her home in northern Greece until the owners stopped paying her. She and her husband arrived in Germany together, but left their young boys behind with relatives until they can afford a suitable home.

"We're not looking after our future," Ms. Saoulidou said while sorting children's party supplies at the warehouse. "We're looking after the future of our children, and unfortunately, there is none for them in Greece."

Germany has long had an uneasy relationship with migrants. Previous generations have often integrated poorly, facing high hurdles to gain citizenship—if they even try. Many Germans also believe that migrants come to live off welfare benefits or criminal activity.

But Benjamin Elsner, a migration researcher at the Institute for the Study of Labor, or IZA, in Bonn, said it was "hardly possible" for the vast majority of new arrivals to live off welfare. While newcomers may receive child support, regular migrants must generally work at least a year before becoming entitled to most benefits, he said.

"It's not true that immigrants have higher welfare take-up rates," said Costanza Biavaschi, an economist at the IZA. They "are usually well-educated, young and ambitious and I don't see compelling evidence that they are benefit scroungers."

Indeed, experts say today's renewed influx of migrants is good for Germany. As its population declines and ages, the nation badly needs qualified workers to fuel economic growth and support its pension and health-care systems.

For the countries the workers leave behind, the impact is less clear. While talents are lost, ailing nations also can benefit when their jobless find work abroad rather than remain idle at home.

Yet, the current northerly migration isn't as great as might be expected given the extent of joblessness in Southern Europe. Language barriers, rigid German labor laws and the reluctance of some German firms to hire foreigners remain impediments, some analysts say.

Mr. and Ms. Karoustas say they now consider themselves lucky. Ms. Karoustas, who speaks German, was also able to find a job at an auto-parts company, and they are able to make enough money to furnish their new home.

The adjustment is harder for their children.

Dimitrios, 18, works a few hours a week loading and unloading a truck. He wanted to study music in a German university, but doesn't meet the criteria for admission, and now is thinking of going back to Greece to study to become an oil and natural gas technician.

Their 16-year-old daughter, Stavroula, was only two years away from college in Greece. Now, she is taking a German language course with other young migrants, many of whom have far less education.

She was frustrated during a recent class when the teacher went over how many times three goes into six. Her eyes filled with tears as she explained how her parents told her it was unlikely they would ever move back.

Life was "more social" in Greece, she said.

The youngest, Nikos, at 15 years old, told his parents he missed his friends. Don't worry, Mr. Karoustas replied. He'd see them again.

"I don't hope for it," the father told his son, "but all of them will come to Germany too."

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